Chief
Zwelodumo Mtirara, a UDM Member of Parliament has resigned his position as MP in
order to serve his Tembu tribe as acting paramount chief, substituting the
current incumbent Paramount Chief Buyelekaya Dalinyebo son of the late Sabata
Dalinyebo who died in exile in Lusaka in the 1980s.

Representatives
of the Tembu tribe approached the President of the UDM, Bantu Holomisa, to ask
him and his party to release Chief Mtirara so that he can go and serve his
people as acting paramount chief because it appears, all is not well at the
Tembu Great Place. Indeed subsequent to this meeting Chief Ndaba Mtirara was
briefed at a meeting of Tembu Chiefs which took place a the former State
President Nelson Mandela's residence in Qunu. Our members of the UDM caucus were
kept informed of this interaction with the Tembu Chiefs, and they fully endorsed
our party's decision to agree to the release of Chief Ndaba Mtirara.

We
have allowed Chief Mtirara to exercise his freedom of choice and consequently
accepted his resignation from Parliament to set him free to play his chosen role
as acting paramount chief of the Tembus.

It
is hoped that this move is the expression of the Tembu royalty and its subjects
and will enable Chief Mtirara to serve his tribe in a non-partisan role, hence
the UDM's willingness to release the Chief, one of its staunch supporters, to
take on the non-partisan and non-political responsibility of serving his tribe.

The
UDM understands that former President of the ANC and firs president of free
South Africa, Dr Nelson Mandela, himself of Tembu royal stock, is the chief
architect of these Tembu palace changes. There is concern however, that this
dramatic turn of events may have political motives. Former President Mandela is
known to have resented Paramount Chief Buyelekaya Dalinyebo's overt
support for the UDM, whereas his predecessor father was an open ANC supporter
and activist. If these rumours have any basis, Chief Mtirara's ascendancy to the
Tembu royal throne will be fraught with problems and might well divide the Tembu
tribe. The Tembus would also find it difficult to reconcile Chief Mtirara's
sudden switch of political allegiance if his succession is designed to improve
the political fortunes of the ANC in the Dalinyebo region which overwhelmingly
voted for the UDM in the December 2000 municipal elections.

We
therefore thank Chief Mtirara for the sterling role he played in both Parliament
and outside. We wish Chief Ndaba Mtirara well in addressing the problems cited
by the chiefs who came to request his release. I also wish to express my
conviction that he will no doubt succeed in resolving these problems.

Mr
Dickson Mkono of Ngqeleni district, Eastern Cape, who is next on the UDM
election list for the National Assembly will replace Chief Ndaba Mtirara.